22 August 2008

I posted about the tools and the color codes for crimping UTP cable to RJ45 before, now I'd like to share step by step of how to crimp the cable to the connector.

You can see on the left picture how the end result will look like.

I want to review again on the tools that I usually use to crimp my cables. Here are the tools:

They are the same from my previous post about the tools, I use additional tools such as the cable stripper for stripping the cable jacket, and boots just to cover the RJ45 connector making the crimped cables look more attractive and more professional.

Here are the steps to start crimping the cables:STEP 1

Slide in the boots to your UTP cable, if you don't want to use the boots, you can skip this step.

STEP 2

Strip the cable jacket using the cable stripper, then untwist the cables and arrange them according to the color code.

STEP 3

After you arrange the cables, make the cables look like the below picture and cut them to match the size of the RJ45 connector.
You have to cut the cables so they are aligned.

With this connector you don't need to worry cutting the cables too short/long, you can just slide in the cables through the connector and cut them afterward.

STEP 4

Slide in your cables to the connector, be careful not to change the cables arrangement.

A word of note, sometimes people neglect the importance of connectors positioning. You have to slide in the connectors all the way in. If you look at the connectors carefully, you can see as the picture on the left.

That part is used to hold your cable, when you crimp the connector, that part will squeeze a little bit to the cable and hold it firm.
This is useful so your connector won't easily come off when pulled.

STEP 5

Insert your connector to the crimper thoroughly and then crimp it until you here some noise.

After that check if all the copper parts of the connector are properly in. You can see the difference below between the un-crimped connector and the crimped connector:

Why I mention this is that sometimes when you crimp using not so good crimper, you'd get some of the copper still sticking out from the connector.

There you have it, slide the boot to the RJ45 and crimp the other side of the cable so you have your own network cable.